248 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Thus the experiments of Stoddart with Trout kept in white basins, 

 which rapidly lost their colouring, was considered of a crucial 

 character. And yet Gold Carp do not necessarily lose richness of 

 colouring in any ordinary dishes. Similarly flat-fish whose under 

 surface is removed from the influence of light have no pigment 

 on this under surface ; and by experiment this under surface has 

 been pigmented by reflecting light thereon. Yet we have such 

 creatures as the Palmipes Starfish with a band of rich colouring on 

 the under surface, although living in deep water and on muddy 

 ground. So that other elements may enter into the question. Apart 

 from these experimental and natural observations, there are some 

 which are evidently wholly abnormal. These are perhaps still more 

 important than what we have previously alluded to. Thus we find 

 flat-fish such as Plaice with a partial coloration on the under sur- 

 face. Some have been taken, as one fisherman described it, as if two 

 young Plaice had been stuck together to make one fish fully 

 coloured on the under surface as well as on the upper. Through 

 the kindness of Mr. Colin Leitch of Ardrishaig, we have been favoured 

 with a very remarkable specimen of such a Plaice. The lower half 

 and a portion of the upper half towards the dorsal fin were as well 

 coloured as the upper surface, with the distinctive orange spots well 

 shown. The remaining fourth, including the under surface of the 

 head, was quite normal.. Here was a fish that had apparently reverted 

 to the coloration of a prior condition, when the fish swam on its 

 edge with eyes on both sides, as indicated in the early development 

 of the flat-fishes. But the structure had not reverted, and when the 

 head was approached, it and its immediate neighbourhood retained 

 the normal appearance of a present-day Plaice. If the normal 

 development of the young Plaice were delayed so as to keep it on 

 its edge with eyes on both sides a few days longer than usual, the 

 pigment cells might obtain such -a start as to continue developing in 

 spite of the untoward conditions of an ordinary flat-fish existence. 

 Has a Plaice ever developed completely so as to be taken absolutely 

 double-sided : that is to say, not only pigmented on both sides, but 

 with an eye on each side, as in the early stages ? We have not met 

 such a specimen, but partial retrogression, at least in colouring, is not 

 uncommon, and the above specimen at the tail half was as com- 

 pletely coloured on the one side as the other. W. ANDERSON 

 SMITH, Ledaig. 



Psodos eoraeina, Esp. ( = P. trepidaria, Tr.\ at a low eleva- 

 tion. This little mountain moth is, I believe, usually regarded as 

 only occurring in this country at an altitude of 2000 feet and upwards 

 see Buchanan White's " Lepidoptera Scotica " (Scot. Nat., vol. 

 iv. p. 32). It may be worth mentioning therefore, that in June of 

 the present year I took two specimens at Inverdruie Saw Mill, and 

 a third by the Spey close to Aviemore Bridge, only some 700 feet 



